


a lot of things get broken

by azurejay (andchimeras)



Category: Fall Out Boy
Genre: Age Play, Gen, Non-Sexual Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-23
Updated: 2010-06-23
Packaged: 2017-10-09 16:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andchimeras/pseuds/azurejay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"On Monday morning, Patrick wanders past the living room to check on Pete and finds him sitting on the floor in the middle of an epic battle between Lego guys and action figures."</p>
            </blockquote>





	a lot of things get broken

On Monday morning, Patrick wanders past the living room to check on Pete and finds him sitting on the floor in the middle of an epic battle between Lego guys and action figures. Pete is pressing He-Man's dislocated arm into his empty shoulder socket, frowning at the plastic in his hands, face hard and hollowly determined where it's not hidden by his hood, thumbs through his cuffs.

Patrick leans in the doorway, hanging for a second, unsure of what to do. The agreement is that he is strictly an adult presence in case Pete sets something on fire and freaks out. He's not supposed to talk to Pete or engage him or anything. Pete will come upstairs when Pete is ready to be a grown-up again. But Pete has had a pretty spectacularly shitty week, and it's entirely possible that a few hours alone with molded plastic toys and the unending childhood in his head is not going to make him feel better.

Pete looks up, and his eyes are narrow, frustrated, and bright with unshed tears. He sniffs deeply, mouth twisting into a halfhearted sneer. "It's broken," he says, voice thin and hoarse; his dirty, sticky hands hold up He-Man and his erstwhile arm.

Patrick's three steps into the room, knees already bending to get him on Pete's level, one hand already out to help, before he realizes what's he's doing. He folds himself awkwardly cross-legged on the floor and puts his hands palm-up between them; Pete asked him to do this. Pete blinks and frowns, hard, and puts the pieces of toy in Patrick's hands.

The plastic is warm and smooth, except for a couple of jagged pits and ridges where a dog or dogs might have got their teeth into it. The yellow paint of He-Man's hair is worn nearly off; the brown of his fur loincloth is wearing at the edges. There's a sticky spot on his chest that's probably the filling from a frozen PB&amp;J. Patrick bites his lip and tries to fit the ball on the end of He-Man's arm into his hollow shoulder socket.

"I broke it," Pete says, almost defiantly.

Patrick watches his fingers still and doesn't look up. He focuses on Pete's socked feet, the frayed hems of his jeans. "Sometimes things get broken," he says finally, not reacting to the challenge in Pete's voice, twisting He-Man's arm, hoping it will pop into place. It doesn't.

Pete's fingers, nails bitten, start fiddling with a stray thread on the cuff of his jeans. "I break things a lot," he says.

"A lot of things get broken," Patrick says. He looks up and Pete looks up, and Patrick tries a small smile and a shrug.

Pete stares at Patrick, face blank. "But you can fix them," he says.

"Well," Patrick says. He bites his lip again, and shrugs again. "Usually. Definitely. I mean, if you have Super-Glue."

Pete makes a displeased face and props his elbows on his knees, his chin on his hands. "I think so, but it's upstairs."

"I can go and get it," Patrick offers.

"No," Pete says definitively, shaking his head, his hands rotating with the gesture. "It's okay."

Patrick raises his eyebrows and holds up He-Man's arm in one hand and the rest of his body in the other. "You sure, little dude?"

Pete grins, eyes still damp, and nods, chin still attached to his fists. Patrick is struck by a rush of nostalgia for a time in Pete's life when he wasn't even around--when he was still in diapers, in fact. "He-Man can beat Vader and Skeletor with one arm, Patrick!"

"Okay," Patrick says, smiling back, helplessly. He hands over one-armed He-Man and watches as Pete returns to his battle, spewing laser noises and hovercraft wails.

After a few minutes, Patrick stands up, He-Man's arm still in his hand, and goes back to the doorway.

"Thanks, Patrick," Pete says from the floor, but when Patrick turns to reply, Pete is firmly, decidedly engrossed in his game.

"You're welcome," Patrick says. He heads back up to find the Super-Glue, so it's ready when Pete is.


End file.
